Conference for Peace/ 80 countries support the territorial integrity of Ukraine

2024-06-16 16:16:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Eighty countries jointly demanded on Sunday (today) that Ukraine's "territorial integrity" be the basis for any peace deal to end the two-year war started by Russia. However, some countries that were participating in a peace conference in Switzerland did not join this declaration. Analysts say the two-day conference is likely to have little concrete impact on ending the war because the country that started and is continuing the war, Russia, was not invited.

Eighty countries jointly demanded on Sunday that Ukraine's "territorial integrity" be the basis of any peace deal to end the two-year war started by Russia, although several countries attending a peace conference in Switzerland did not. joined this statement.

Russia was not invited to this conference, while many participants hoped that a guide to peace between the two countries could be found.

About 100 delegations, mostly western countries, but also some key developing countries, participated in the conference and according to experts it is important how these countries lined up. India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates - which were represented by foreign ministers or at lower levels - were among those countries that did not sign the final document, which focused on issues of nuclear safety, food security and exchange of prisoners. Likewise, Brazil did not sign the declaration, while Turkey, a country that sought to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, signed the declaration.

The final document calls for the achievement of a peace based on the UN Charter and "respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine."

Viola Amherd, the Swiss president who chaired the meeting, said the fact that the "vast majority" of participants agreed on the final document "shows what diplomacy can achieve."

"A lasting solution must involve both parties. It is important to understand that the path to peace in Ukraine must be followed on the basis of international law and, in particular, the Charter of the United Nations," she said.

"I hope that we will be able to achieve results as soon as possible. And it is these and other similar practical steps to restore security and peace that will prove to everyone in the world that the UN Charter can be restored to full effectiveness. All the principles and proposals of the UN charter", said the president of Ukraine.

"Russia opposes the UN charter, opposes basic logic. All of us would like to live in a world that is governed by those principles, because they make us all safe. The United States of America will proudly walk alongside Ukraine on this path until peace prevails there," said Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the conference was "rightfully" titled "The Road to Peace", because peace will not be achieved in a single step.

"It was not a peace negotiation because Putin is not serious about ending the war. He is insisting on capitulation. He is insisting on taking Ukrainian territory, even territory that is not occupied today. He is insisting on disarming Ukraine, leaving it vulnerable to future aggression. "No country would ever accept these conditions," she said.

Analysts say the two-day conference is likely to have little concrete impact on ending the war because the country that started and is continuing the war, Russia, was not invited. Russia's main ally China, which did not participate, and Brazil have sought together to forge an alternative path to peace.

The three main themes of this conference: nuclear security, food security and prisoner exchange were supported in the final declaration.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said they constituted the "minimum conditions" for negotiations with Russia, hinting that some other areas of disagreement between Kiev and Moscow will be more difficult to overcome.

The Prime Minister of Qatar noted the other day how his country is working with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations to reunite Ukrainian children with their families and that so far has resulted in the reunification of 34 children.

The Ukrainian government believes that more than 19,000 children have been forcibly displaced, and the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, has previously confirmed that at least 2,000 have been taken from Ukrainian orphanages.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Swiss meeting "a ploy to divert attention". The Russian president offered a plan for a cease-fire in Ukraine and the start of talks if Kiev begins to withdraw troops from the four regions of Ukraine annexed by Moscow in 2022 and abandon plans for NATO membership./ VOA